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Changes in muscle tissue of shrinking Antarctic krill

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 12:52 authored by McGaffin, AF, Nicol, S, Ritz, DA
We examined the mechanism by which Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, shrink, and suggest that cellular changes occurring during shrinkage may provide a means for identifying krill that have undergone shrinkage. We compared the muscle tissue of juvenile, adult and shrunken adult krill to identify changes in cell number associated with maturity and shrinkage. Comparison of the absolute number and density of nuclei in abdominal segments of juvenile, adult and shrunken adult krill revealed differences related to maturity and shrinkage. Shrunken adult krill had nearly twice as many nuclei per unit area than adult krill that had not shrunk. This suggests that krill shrink by a reduction in cell volume, rather than cell loss. This simply detected variation in muscle cell nucleus density may be useful in distinguishing shrunken adult krill from juveniles, and contribute to our knowledge of age structure in natural populations.

History

Publication title

Polar Biology

Volume

25

Pagination

180-186

ISSN

0722-4060

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Place of publication

USA

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences

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